Telephone mouthpiece sterilizing device



March 27, 1951 A. P. M CLOSKEY ETAL 2,546,229

TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECE STERILIZING DEVICE Filed June 1, 1948 Patented Mar.2 7, 1951 TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECE maimed DEVICE Hopkins, Hih'Sdiilie, Ill.said Hopkins assignor Application dune l, 194, Serial 1 18. 36,4254 2Glaims; M (01; 21- 61)" .4 Th ns i n qnreletss is te "pli rssii lil fisf devi s rp ii'qslarlr ll WP Q L 1$ r 3 1 1 m ns r marties aser dal 6611 position effective in a vapor state for destroying rm 9 e siae Qll'ith fipe um. t. 1 ,A variety of ssc iie e avebs np e f6? the treatmentoftelephone mouthpieces to destroy pathogenic bacteria thereon ah dpreventing the spread of diseases throug f contac with germs ntelepliore qyih ieqs Su s an a l D h of the suggested structures havepeen adopted and several reasonsare obvious which prevent their adoptionSome of the materials employed are dangerous andthe proposeduse of theminvolves too great a hazard. The germicidal compositions invariablyliquids and these re uire" containefs which are d ifiidult to su ortsafely and which ma seer/enema, etc. Some ofth'e suggested materials"vaporize at a' high rate for a short pe; r'icd ortirire arid are thenexhausted; further, the vaporized mate a1- rormsan undesirablecemp'one'nt of the 1 ornatm osphrea Certain of the suggested supportingdevices" are eduipped with financierengae'e'merit by the mouthpiece inc'fder to open the" container for evaporation only v'vher'r themouthpieceis in positionon the sup port;- The-structure is notsatisfactory because the mouthpiece may shift longitudinally of thesupport'and thus fail to open the container Substantially all of thestructures" suggested are expensive and" complicated. For the successfultreatment of themillions of'tel'phohes' empzeyea, t-h'e'in'eed for manydecades has been for an extremely simple" structure supporting agermidical composition in an effective position with respect to themouthpiece while at the same time pro viding a unit containing thegermicidal composition-Which maybe replaced readily from time to k time.

a structure filling the need abcvereferred to and having the desiredqualities set out. Yet another object is to provide a simplestructureand means for disinfecting telephone mouthpieces which willavoidthe undesirable ualities in the structures stav referred to whileproviding an extremely simple and inexpensive arrangen'ient in whichasimpledi'sc structurencloses the germicidal composition in a protectivemanner. A still further object to provide; a protective disc ofa porousor'fibrous'compo'siti containing therein a solid disinfectant inajprotectedmanner, thedisc being supported in effective germicidalposition with ls'pect to'the nid lith'pic'eand being re laceabla's'iiede'd. Other' specific Objects and advantages w'i11;;app a;r asthe Specification proceeds.

Theirive'ntibn is illustrated'in a single embodimnt; ythe'a'ccoh'ipanying rawing, in which lisa"perspectivefview of atelephone ref, civ'er 'or'stahdequippedwitha speaker arm and An olcjectof; the present invention isto provide mouth""'ec thfl stliictur beingprovided with spanning or. disinfectin means embodying Our invention;Fig, 2, a' b1'oke n Vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale; Fig.3, a detail transverse section riw,.,the.sectioiiheing taken asindicated at line 3 01 Fig. 3,; Fig} 4, a perspective and partlysectional viewer a disc structure embodying our invehtiorif ah'd Fig Q5a tic et View in vertical section showing a modified structure embodyingour invention. 7 I In t'e illustration given; A' designates the usualtelephone stand apes which is supported a speaker and receiver arm B.The arm B is provided .with a circular speaker ring or mouthce i s i VIn the illustration, giveninFig'sZ 1 to 4 inclusiveywe provide a baseplate l3 having an inwardly extending bottom flange ll upon whichthestand A adapted to rest. The member ll! isprovided with" a verticalportion having inwardl'y extending arms l2 forming a channfel s. Thearms l2 are turned outwardly" at their ends [4 and arewelded to a U -'shaped channel member, I5. The Ui-ishaped' channel member l'5 re; delvesthe outerflange l6 of the telephone stand A; asshown more 'clearly inFig.2; and the outer lip l! of th'eu-shaped rnember'lfili s against theinnerwall of the casing member [6. By this means; th'e'frame wall [5islocked tightly about the f ange is and the member la is anchoredfirmly in the position illustrated in Fig. 2. a Ajsli'dablesuppcrt' armI 8 provided with a screw l9" which extends through the arm [8 andthrough a slot 29 in the vertical flange of member l0; The screw 59 isprovided on itsdnner end with a nut?! which is received within thechannel I3. The arm I3 is thus adjustably mounted upon the support l0. 7V As shown more clearly in High 2, th"e upper end of the support i8 isinclined forwardly .at an angle of about 25 to providea supportingflangeIZZ which is'wel'ded or otherwise secured to a shallow pan 23. t vThe shallow pan 23 is open at its top and is supported with the bottomwall of the pan ad jacent to and in substantially parallel alignmentwith theloottom wall, of themouthpiece B as shownhefst inf Fig. 2. V5'ithinthe shallow pan is supporteda germicidal disc 25. v 4 x Thegermicidal di sc 25 may] be formedlof any suitable'material' We' pr'eferto formlthe disc of porous .material and to place ,the' germicidalsubstance within the central'port'iohfof the" disc so thatthef'discfservjesas a protective body about the germicidal suhstance.The disc .may be formed of cotton pad-5 pressed together, plaster ofParis, molded paper piilpQet'c. i

Formaldehyde and paraformaldehvde have been heretofore suggested'jfdrvusefor the fumigation of infected'preiriises. To render the solidpolymer, paraformaldehyde, effective, other chemicals or heat have beenemployed to produce evolution of the vapors. Such vaporization has beenemployed for brief periods and in the absence of human beings. Theliterature indicates that the normal vaporization from the solid polymerresulted in too low concentrations in the air to have germicidal effect.

We have discovered that the solid polymer, paraformaldehyde, isunusually effective as a means for disinfecting telephone mouthpiecesand particularly when employed apart from any heat or reacting material.By incorporating the solid within a porous disc, and preferably by meansof a non-reactive adhesive, we find that the telephone mouthpiece can beeffectively sterilized within a brief period and maintained sterile overlong periods of time, the disc which supports the paraformaldehyde beingreplaced only after a substantial period of days. The solid polymersupported within the interior of the disc is found to have effectivegermicidal action with respect to the telephone mouthpiece after periodsof about a month. The slow vaporization, however, of the material doesnot render a room unpleasant and, in fact, does not require a maskingvapor odor.

In the illustration given in Fig. 5, the telephone stand body isreceived within a simple tray 26. The tray supports a channel member 2?which is slotted to receive a screw 28 and a member 3a similar to thesupport I8 already described is employed for supporting the pan 23. thisstructure, it will be noted that the supporting mechanism is not in anyway connected to the telephone apparatus, the stand A merely restingfreely within the tray. 7

The disc 25, in the specific illustration given, is formed in two parts.There is an upper cotton pad 29 and a lower similar cotton pad 30.Paraformaldehyde powder was mixed with a vegetable adhesive, sodiumalginate, and applied to the upper surface of the lower pad 30 inconcentric circles approaching the center of the pad, as illustrated inFig. 4. Thus the paraformaldehyde was fairly evenly distributed over thetop of the lower disc. The two pads were then pressed together and theadhesive served to bind them into a united disc. The viscosity of theadhesive was such as to prevent penetration of the lower disc to anysubstantial degree and the fibrous pads thus provided ample protectionto prevent the user from coming into contact with the solid polymer.

In another example, the dry paraformaldehyde powder was mixed with gumarabic and deposited in the manner above described to provide a good.product.

In another example, the paraformaldehyde powder was mixed with gumtragacanth and the viscous material applied fairly evenly over the lowerpad but spaced inwardly, as in the previous examples, from the extremeedge of the pad. The two pads were then pressed together and united.

In another example, the above mixtures were used with molded paper pulpto form the porous pads. Similarly, we have united separate discs ofplaster of Paris by means of the adhesives employed. We find that anyvegetable adhesive may be used. It is important that an adhesive beemployed which does not contain nitrogen.

We prefer to support the pan 23 at an angle of about with the horizontalplane, this being the plane of the mouthpiece ring 24 and we prefer toadjust the pan so that it is at a distance of With 4 about 8 mm. fromthe mouthpiece 24. At lesser distances, even more effective results areobtained.

G ermicidal tests were carried out by applying diluted broth cultures ofcertain pathogenic bacteria to sterilized telephone mouthpieces withcotton swabs. After drying for a fixed interval, one-half of themouthpiece was swabbed, and plate cultures made from the swab. Themouthpiece was then placed on the support above a disc 25 containingparaformaldehyde, and after a definite period of time the second half ofthe mouthpiece was swabbed and the swab cultured. In many of the tests,as many mouthpieces were reserved as controls as were exposed to thegermicide, in order to determine any lethal eifect of holding the driedbacteria during the time necessary to carry out the test. The time ofexposure to the germicide extended from one hour down to periods of fiveminutes or less. Most of the tests were made in periods of about fiveminutes and it was at this time that the effect of the paraformaldehydecontained in the disc became very apparent in the percentage kill ofbacteria on the telephone mouthpiece. In testing for Staphylococcusaureus at 8 mm. distance, five minutes exposures, it was found that whenthe disc contained paraformaldehyde in a quantity of 0.50 gram and more,that the number of the bacteria killed increased, the best results beingobtained when the content of paraformaldehyde in the disc was from 1.0to 2.0 grams. From about 1.5 to 2.0 grams, substantially all of theorganisms were destroyed within the five minute exposure. While thepercentage kill was from to in the period mentioned, obviously thedestruction would be far greater for longer periods. Since in normal usethe mouthpiece would be subjected over extremely long periods to theaction of the germicidal vapor, a much lower content of paraformaldehydecould be employed than was used in the above tests.

Tests of the same kind were performed with other pathogenic bacteria. Ingeneral, most types of bacteria of concern in human disease are lessresistant to drying than is Staphylococcus aureus, and as some of theresults show, some of the organisms may be dying off during the periodof the experiment without any other treatment than drying. In a testwith the organism Klebsiella pneumoniae, the organisms were totallydestroyed in the five minute period using 2.0 grams of paraformaldehyde.A similar test gave like results in the treatment of Streptococcuspyogenes.

The various tests demonstrated that paraformaldehyde when incorporatedin a porous supporting material, exerts strong germicidal action inperiods of five minutes and less at distances up to 8 mm. The testsfurther demonstrated that the solid polymer in the discs was effectivefor bringing about the above described results even after periods offrom two to four weeks. The solid polymer was incorporated within glasswool and sponges, plaster of Paris, and similar materials by forming asolution of the paraformaldehyde and allowing it to penetrate the porousmaterial while a liquid, the material solidifying then within the porouscarrier. The paraformaldehyde on the outer surfaces was then removed.

While in the foregoing description, we have set forth structures inconsiderable detail for the purpose of illustrating one embodiment ofthe invention, it will be understood that such details may be variedwidely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit ofour invention.

We claim:

1. A sterilizing pad adapted for use in the sterilizing of a telephonemouthpiece, comprising a pair of fibrous discs having interposed betweenthem a thin layer of a high-viscosity vegetable adhesive having powderedparaformaldehyde carried therein in a state of suspension, the vegetableadhesive being operative to hold the paraformaldehyde in the spacebetween the disks and'operative also to secure the pads together to forma porous body through which vapors from the paraformaldehyde may pass.

2. A sterilizing pad adapted for use in the sterilizing of a telephonemouthpiece, comprising a pair of cotton pads having interposed betweenthem a thin layer of sodium alginate solution having powderedparaformaldehyde carried therein in a state of suspension, the sodiumalginate being operative to hold the paraformaldehyde in the spacebetween the pads and operative also to secure the pads together to forma porous body through which vapors from the paraformaldehyde may pass.

ARTHUR P. McCLOSKEY. ERVIN W. HOPKINS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Algin Finds New Uses in Pharmacyby 20 Gordon A. Bergy, article in Amer. Prof. Pharmacist. July 1939,pages 367-368, 398.

